


Hot Chocolate is Perfection

by gigglesbatch



Category: Sherlock (TV), Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms
Genre: M/M, Unilock, john is a mall elf, sherlock is a mall santa
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-24
Updated: 2014-12-24
Packaged: 2018-03-03 05:03:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,244
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2839001
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gigglesbatch/pseuds/gigglesbatch
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A silly secret santa gift for the lovely Queermycroft. Merry Christmas Charlie!! (and yes, that bit at the end was totally lifted from Friends. I have no shame.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hot Chocolate is Perfection

John sighed deeply as he adjusted his elf ears. Already a bit self conscious about his height, being an elf for a mall santa wasn't his idea of a great time. He needed the extra money though, and with a couple weeks off school it was the perfect opportunity to get a part time job. 

"I'm sure you look fine John, stop staring in the mirror and get out here. We need you, our new Santa is a bit, um, difficult." Sarah, who had been Mrs. Claus for three years now, called from behind the bathroom door. 

"Sorry, yeah I'm coming." John replied as he opened the door and stepped out of their tiny bathroom. They had a very small space in the back of the mall, sandwiched between storage rooms, in which to get into their costumes and psych themselves up for another day full of screaming kids and pushy parents. John saw Sarah leaning against the wall with her palms pressed against her eyes. She liked this job about as much as he did. "So who's the new Santa? Why is he difficult?" 

Sarah didn’t reply and instead started walking down the hallway. John shrugged and followed her. There was absolutely no way that this Santa can be worse than the last. Jim was half drunk most of the time, hit on Mrs. Claus non-stop, and actually fell asleep once while a kid was reading off her Christmas wish list. John will never forget the irate screams from parents (and heartbroken kids) as he tried to explain to them that Santa wasn't feeling well and had to leave. Anyone, literally anyone, would be an improvement over that. 

"I conceded to wearing this disgusting beard and hideous trousers and coat, I look enough like Santa to placate the hordes of children. I am not going to wear that ridiculous hat." Came a deep voice from around the corner. 

"Our new Santa, his name is Sherlock by the way, is worrying about messing up his hair and is refusing to wear his hat." Sarah explained. 

"Yeah, I caught that much. I'll talk to him, he's probably just nervous or something." John replied as they exited the hallway and entered their small main space. It was usually used as a storage room for the mall’s Christmas decorations, so there were empty boxes and shelves everywhere. The other elves and Phillip, their supervisor, turned around when they heard John and Sara enter. 

"Great, John. Hey, come try to talk some sense into Sherlock. He's worried the santa hat will mess up his pretty hair." Phillip called out, with more malice than usual.  
"For God's sake it has nothing to do with my hair. The hat is too big and falls over my eyes. I need to be able to see, to observe." Sherlock replied as he stood up from his make-shift box chair. 

John pushed past Phillip, he didn't have enough energy to be polite or even pretend to like him today, and looked up at their new santa. He was tall, several inches taller than John, with dark curly hair which was very carefully styled to frame his pale angular face. Sherlock had high sharp cheekbones, full plush lips, and bright greenish-bluish-grayish eyes that were currently boring into John with an intensity that took his breath away. He was gorgeous, and suddenly John couldn't blame him for not wearing the hat. It would be a shame to cover up those beautiful curls, and if the hat covered those eyes? Well that would be an unforgivable crime. John pulled himself up to his full height and smiled. 

"Hi. I'm John, it's nice to meet you." He said with a smile, holding out his hand. 

Sherlock took it without hesitation, his large hand easily enveloping John's. "Sh-Sherlock. Pleasure." He replied, his cheeks and ears turning bright red at his stammer. Sherlock looked away, clearly embarrassed. Well that won't do, thought John. He lightly stroked his thumb on the back of Sherlock's hand as he took a step forward. 

"I can't blame you for not wanting to wear the hat Sherlock. Honestly, I think you look perfect just like this. Unfortunately though the kids who have waited to see you all day would be very disappointed to see Santa without his hat. And we don't want to disappoint anyone, do we?" John asked, his voice low enough on the last sentence for only Sherlock to hear. Sherlock finally looked forward and met John's eyes. 

"No, no I suppose you're right." He whispered, still holding on to John's hand. 

John unleashed his best Three-Campus Watson smile full force, relishing in the way Sherlock's mouth fell open and his breathing sped up. 

"Great," John exclaimed as he reluctantly let go of Sherlock's hand and addressed the crowd around them. "So looks like we're ready to go. Let's get this over with."

The rest of the day went by in a flash. Elf John walked each child over to Santa Sherlock, introduced them, then stood back and watched as Sherlock tried his hardest to focus on what the children asked for. Every few minutes Sherlock would look up and see John leaning against the candy cane wall, who would then grin and wink. Sherlock never failed to turn bright red every single time, which was absolutely perfect in John's opinion, because Santa was supposed to have rosy cheeks. 

When the day ended, John rushed back to change out of his hideous costume. He had never changed so quickly, but he wanted to make sure he caught Sherlock before he left. John practically ran down the long hallway as he was pulling his jumper over his head and was momentarily blinded by the soft tan fabric. Before he could pull the material down, he ran into something hard and warm. "Oof!" was all he heard before they both fell down. John finally forced his head through the opening and looked down to see Sherlock, his eyes completely covered by that godforsaken hat. John laughed and tugged the hat up gently, and smiled as Sherlock's face turned impossibly more red. 

"I'm sorry about that, I was in a bit of a rush and was still pulling down my jumper." John murmured and licked his lips, not making any attempt to move. 

"Why were you in such a rush?" Sherlock tried to ask nonchalantly, but failed miserably as his deep voice cracked at the end. 

"Well, I was hoping I might get to sit on Santa's lap before he left." John replied with a smile. He leaned closer, their noses almost touching. 

"I think...um...yes, I think that might be...I..." Sherlock stammered, blinking wildly. John took pity on the poor boy and closed the distance, gently touching his lips to Sherlock's. He pulled back for a moment, and then leaned down again and placed a gentle kiss on each of those amazing cheekbones. 

"I live near campus, just a few blocks away. Would you like to come over for hot chocolate?" John asked as he stood up and held a hand out to help Sherlock up. 

"Hot chocolate would be perfection." Sherlock replied as he got to his feet. He then realized what he said and blushed again. John laughed until tears started to form and Sherlock quickly joined in, unable to help himself. John grabbed Sherlock's hand and threaded their fingers together as they walked out into the cold December air.


End file.
